#closed culture

[tales-from-syscord]

I believed this happened a couple of years ago? But I'd thought it was a very peculiar experience for me to share.

So, I used to be in this traumagenic server with what seems like a lot of blacklists and claims to be POC friendly. It was one of our few DID/OSDD focused discord servers that we joined when we first suspected we have DID. (We got diagnosed a year later.)

I remembered being in a ticket with one of the mods because they looked at the names of our alters through pk. They then LITERALLY did some google research on the name origins and made it something like this.

" Hi! We noticed your names may be considered cultural appropriating blablabla

Casey = Irish

Ari = Jewish

Please consider changing your names!"

And then had the nerve to even ask me what my race is, but I felt so uncomfortable?? I said Asian. They want me to specify further. I said Southeast Asian. And if my memory serves me right, they wanted me to specify more than that.

When I looked at that message where I had to change my own and my alter's names, I felt like they were JOKING?? HOW IS CASEY A CLOSED NAME??? It's.. a generic name used by pretty much everyone in the world.

They mentioned how Irish is a closed culture, and I think they mentioned Irish discrimination during the US immigration and all. I understand, but at the same time, Irish itself isn't a closed culture at all?? Not to mention, I've been using Casey as my name for quite some time now.

Ari being linked to Jewish makes no sense to me either. People sometimes use it to shorten the name 'Ariana' for short, but I also see many non-Jewish people also using that name too.

Ari is an alternative spelling of our body's name, so we don't feel weird using our irl body's name (which is Arabic) to the people online. It's not a sense of shame of the body's name but more privacy concerns, easier pronounciation, and having our own individuality.

It's worth mentioning that a lot of Muslim and Christian names are derived from Judaism, too. The Muslim and Christian names just have a different spelling to it, so I don't know what the hell they were thinking.

I felt so mad and felt this was all too ridiculous. I had to keep my cool and leave because what kinda server is this??? That claims to be POC safe?? I'm sorry if I don't sound the most open-minded, but it's just a weird experience to me, really. When I think of cultural appropriating, I would think of taking a name from, let's say, a Romani name or a Tamil name, and then use it without realizing the significance of that culture just because it looks pretty for some aesthetic. Not whatever tf this server was pulling.

As an Irish system, what the fuck?? Casey is definitely not a "closed culture Irish name," LMAO?? You're not overreacting DW anon, that's just wild.

[tales-from-systok]

People have been trying to convince us that Tupluamancy ISNT a closed practice 😭

Like, no, hun, it is. And there's plenty of proof of it, including people of that culture saying it's cultural appropriation, making it racist AND abelist 💀

Oh lord not the "tulpagenics" again..

[c-vs-paganism]

Samhain just passed and it has once again amazed me how different cultures can be and how people within one culture dont necessarily interact with norms and traditions in the same way.

Samhain is traditionally celtic, although its been spread around the larger pagan communities for a good while, so obviously we have to take into consideration how non-pantheon specific pagans and non-celtic pagans have added to the common modern practices and beliefs. We also have to take into consideration of how the internet and the mysticization (ik ik i cant think of a better term) of paganism have played on how people view popular holidays like samhain, yule, and ostara. A lot of what we consider the typical "witchy" traditions have very little to no actual historical record or tradition, and were instead made introduced into the social culture of paganism, which we can see on platforms like tiktok. That's not to say that those new practices are less significant than historical ones, bc imo we are our own religion: we define whats important to us and base our practices off if those feelings and beliefs.

That being said, however, I think it's also important to recognize when we're making traditional practices out to be stuff their not, taking from closed cultures (*cough cough* white americans using indigenous practices *cough cough*) and when theres influence of colonization and cultural appropriation. Im indigenous and its a HUGE point that rubs me the wrong way when i see people using items or pieces of tradition that they (knowingly or unknowingly) have taken from a closed practice. Stop and do your research. ABOUT. EVERYTHING. Sorry if it's too much work or it slows you down but its so important.

Even for open practices: do your research. If you are using traditions and practices from somewhere and you dont know where it comes from there is still the potential for appropriation.

I personally urge all pagans to research every little thing. Why do certain herbs have these properties? Where does this practice come from? Just because something is available to you or you can kind of make stuff up along the way doesn't mean you should.

All this in mind, ive noticed Samhain has been merged with the modern idea of Halloween (dont give me a history lesson guys, ik the origins of halloween: im talking about commercialization) and i personally find it enjoyable. I grew up trick-or-treating, the decor is fun, etc. I know yall are bored atp but all of this was leading up to this question:

How did yall, as pagans, celebrate the past few days (if you celebrated at all)?

Im mainly just curious to see how social cultural norms in paganism span through the different sections and beliefs of the people i can reach on the internet.

[thehellsaint]

holy fuck to that anon tell me youve never left the united states without telling me youve never left the united states. If i met a white system telling me theyre using a name from my culture id throw hands bro

Seriously 😭 Americans are in such a bubble online

Maybe "no one cares IRL" about something because you surround yourself with a certain type of person or you live in a certain type of country 🤚

[chaos-in-one]

People from marginalized cultures: Hey so please don't try to take parts of our culture and make them your own instead of respecting the culture they actually come from. Also if we say part of our culture is closed please respect that, a lot of us have had our cultures mocked and stolen and erased right in front of us and we want to be able to preserve what we do have left.

Some people: omg so you think I should never do anything that comes from a culture outside my own??? Culture is meant to be shared!!! You're practically reinventing segregation!!!!!

[florasolarsystem]

Opinions on asking alters to change their names if they're from other cultures? From what I've seen in some cases yes it's okay but some names are maybe Japanese but common enough in other countries

for example the name Kenji, has Japanese origins but is very common outside of Japan

....and also someone requested we change a nickname of someone on plural kit because it was written in Korean. As apparently non Koreans can't write in anything but English? The nickname just means beautiful and is too match a Korean friend- it's not even using it as a name

[sparklecryptid]

Look, I think we can all agree with the fact that abuse thrives in darkness. So explain to me why a 21 year old used the word pdfile and pronounce it exactly like that when we were talking about child abuse. Censoring the word does nothing. It literally took me several seconds to understand what she was saying. Clear communication is vital when someone comes or tries to come forward. It can be the difference between them feeling seen and heard and refusing to divulge anything. When you censor words like that in real life there can be consequences because you are obscuring information and hurting communication. Use the proper words. And if they make you so uncomfortable you can’t use them then maybe you shouldn’t be having a conversation that requires use of those words.

[plagalkey]

ENERGETIC ⚡️

you make me feel so high

[uncanny-tranny]

The hardest, but most important, part of my transition has been untangling what my personal dysphoria is, and what is more a result of cissexism.

What I mean by this is that I learned that I am not dysphoric about certain aspects of myself, my body, and my life, but my discomfort in these aspects was influenced by the cissexist culture I live in which told me I couldn't exist as myself.

It's definitely a slow process, but I have found that it helps me self-actualize and actually see myself instead of what others demand of me.

[tales-from-syscord]

for some reason most of our wildest syscord tales have to do with the closed culture stuff. i respect that some cultural practices and names may legitimately be closed, but the way people are acting and the things people are claiming are 'closed' is getting ridiculous.

had a syscord mod tell me the name john was from a closed culture and nobody should use it. had a DIFFERENT MOD from a DIFFERENT SERVER tell me the # symbol was closed. the. the fucking hashtag. im so serious.

had ANOTHER DIFFERENT MOD IN ANOTHER SERVER tell our little to stop using the name tallulah because its from native american culture. WE ARE NATIVE.

JOHN.. CLOSED CULTURE.. you gotta be fucking with me..

[merilles]

Ladies of the Ring 💍✨

[jesncin]

Xanthe Zhou is Chindo now whoaa whoa that's nuts I love representation!! I'm a big "qpoc characters reclaiming cultural clothing" enthusiast so here's The Envoy in kebaya peranakan, sarong, and hanfu. The keris they're holding is based on my shaman friend's very own keris.

[thehellsaint]

I'm sorry but seeing white ppl using Japanese names makes me cringe so fucking hard 😭

I'm not calling you Toya Todoroki bro I can't

[chaos-in-one]

Hey reminder to fellow systems If you have an alter based on something from a closed culture/ closed part of a culture, ESPECIALLY if it’s a bastardized version of the original thing, and you are not a part of that culture, please do not call the alter the name of that thing, because it’s not yours to claim. You can’t control what alters form, but you can control what you call them. Saying this as a Native system who has recently seen people calling alters (that where very clearly based on a heavily bastardized version) the names of beings from specific Native American cultures, including the names of beings that are not supposed to have their names said, ever. Yes, even in writing for certain ones of them. I would also implore any system with alters they believe to be based on any sort of fokelore or mythology to look up the roots of the things the alter is based on to make sure they aren’t using closed culture names and beliefs to refer to their alters.

[sag-dab-sar]

There is no such thing as a beginner deity.

There is no necessary changes you need to make to your life in order to worship a deity.

There is no psychological preparation that needs to be done.

You don't need to break a habit. Reframe your psyche. Finish medical treatment. Reach a life 'milestone'. in order to worship a deity.

If anything you should approach a deity to help you through these things.

Learning the religion can occur at the same time as worship. They can be parallel events.

You can begin worshipping a deity the day you read this. There is no future point in time where you will somehow be more ready to approach a deity.

You are already ready.

Edit: *excluding closed cultures

[julijbee]

girlbossing too close to the sun.